Memory in anti-Judaism and modern antisemitism: German Catholic mentalities between 1870 and 1945

Blaschke, Olaf

Abstract

The chapter develops three arguments. 1. The distinction between three kinds of antisemitism remains important: between ancient anti-Judaism with its various facets (ritual murder, the host sacrilege legend); modern, post-emancipatory antisemitism in the nineteenth century; and racial antisemitism. Christians participated in the modernisation of antisemitism while at the same time commemorating medieval and early modern “martyrs”, especially of alleged ritual murders, the so-called blood libel. Modern antisemitism was, especially since the culture war, inscribed within nineteenth-century Catholicism. Ultramontanism produced homogeneity not only in religious, cultural and political attitudes but also regarding the Jews. Modern antisemitism was embraced, but racism was the borderline. Contemporaries called this “double antisemitism”. 3. The connection between Catholicism and antisemitism was not specifically German. Since modern, ultramontane Catholicism has been a transnational phenomenon; its features of a “double antisemitism” can also be observed in other countries throughout continental Europe. Thus, there was a certain kind of uniformity, performed within ultramontane Catholicism. This movement has expanded since the early nineteenth century in the course of the religious revival – loyal to the pope, loyal to Catholic parties and loyal to Catholic media. Ultramontanism became hegemonic and helped to homogenise Catholic orthodoxy, but it also helped to homogenise Catholic antisemitism. The re-enactment of Jewish “crimes” in past centuries and the revitalisation of memory of anti-Judatistic traditions both played an important role.